The night of death

I was constantly amazed by the exploits of my family. So much so, that there were times when I questioned whether or not I was truly related to them. As Bernard and I finished searching the tapman's house he announced that he had an important meeting at the Vigilance committee. He was quite sure that there was much information to be gained from these people. I wished him luck and traveled back to the guard house and to a great surprise. As I arrived, I encountered Kelios who immediately started detailing the great new accommodations that she had procured for us. She kept indicating that the room was in the guard house, although I did not remember seeing any guest rooms in the place. I asked her to show me the room and she led me deep into the basement and indicated that we were to inhabit one of the cells. Ezra help me. I stood there, contemplating my plight, breathing deeply of the aroma left by the last set of guests and decided that I would be better to sleep in the streets than in the cell. As I gathered my belongings and started back towards the inn, Kelios advised me that he had done some heavy negotiating and that we might not be able to get our rooms back. Negotiating indeed! It seems that she had managed to deeply offend one of the boys and that we had been thrown out of the inn. This was something of a shock, but I was able to calm the boy somewhat and convince him to allow me back into his inn. I would figure out a way to deal with getting Kelios a place to stay later. There were more pressing matters afoot; Coth, the innkeeper, had decided to take the law into his own hands and had set off into the night to find the ripper. We were sure that he would do himself, or some innocent bystander harm, so we did the only proper thing. We set out to bring him back. The stress of the days must be showing, for we searched the streets for an hour before we realized that Peotr's wolf-beast could track him better than we could. We quickly returned to the inn and had the beast gain his scent from the outside bed that he had used when his wife had thrown him out. It still took the beast over an hour to follow his scent about the town. He had made many crossovers and seemed to be wandering at random. The trail finally ended at a sewer grate. It seemed to have been moved at some point, but no amount of pulling on our part could get it to move. We were just about to give up when Coth appeared at the end of the alley. He must have come to his senses and found another way out of the sewers. He was quite confused and seemed dazed. I was able to calm him down and we had started back to the inn when he twisted and swung his axe at me. I tried to subdue him, but he kept fighting like a man possessed. When the howl of the jackal-wares drifted out of the fog I knew that this was a trap and that this was not the man we were seeking. The battle raged. Peotr summoned fire and ice to strike the foes down. Kelios got trapped between the Coth-beast and one of the jackal-wares and was dropped by an evil blow. I had no choice but to step forward, through the Coth-beast and lay my healing touch upon her. We finally finished off the beasts and were able to bring Kelios back from the brink of death, although just barely. We took one last look at the bodies, now in their true forms, and stumbled into the night, looking for Bernard.

We arrived at the building housing the vigilance committee and tried to gain entrance to Bernard. The doorman did not seem to understand our urgency and did a valiant job of keeping us from entering the building. Kelios finally managed to gain Bernard's attention with her flying rodent and he laid the blessing of Ezra upon us. Perhaps next time I will take his advice and use the servant's entrance. Or maybe I should just return to the guard house and see about getting myself a new uniform.

Bernard expressed an interest in investigating the battle scene, so we took him back to the killing field. As was expected, the bodies were nowhere in sight, although, once again, the trail of blood led into the sewers. Although Bernard claims that anyone coming out of the sewers would have a smell that could be tracked by an idiot, I am starting to suspect that we will have to begin a search of the underworld soon. The only evidence that we could show that the battle occurred was the mighty axe that the Coth-beast had carried. I gathered it up and we set off into the night.

We had barely gone a few streets when the clock stared to strike twelve. We braced for the scream that would undoubtedly come. As the eighth bell sounded we heard the scream...but it was so close. We rushed towards the sound and came up the ripper. He was holding a woman up against the wall, his wicked blade already dripping with blood. The coachman seemed to materialize in front oh him, almost out of the mists. The howls of the jackal-wares sounded from around a corner and a familiar voice sounded 'G'day Gov'n'er'.

We had stumbled into a coven of evil, and they would not let us go without taking a piece of our souls. I charged at the coachman, hoping to finish him off and capture the ripper. I could hear sounds of battle all around me. Peotr once again summoned many creatures to aid us in our fight and his wolf-beast made a great accounting of itself. Bernard and Kelios seemed to double team the tap man-beast who, once again, grew to an enormous size. The jackal-wares dropped from many a blow, but not before inflicting much damage upon us. The coachman retreated down the alley as the ripper seemed to flee. I followed the coachman and eventually managed to bring him down, even though his poison had made it into my veins. The ripper had circled around and was taking a brutal stabbing from Bernard. Kelios had fallen from the dirty claws of the jackal-wares. Peotr's wolf-beast had taken more stabs from the ripper than a normal creature should have been able to take. The beast finally could take no more and fled from the battle. We were badly mangled by the time the evil ones decided to retreat. Only a single jackal-ware was left, although the ripper and the tapman-beast still walked. Peotr managed to conjure a hoard of vines to appear in an attempt to entangle the cowards. They were faster than the vines and skipped into the night. Bernard made sure that the beasts were dead, while I tried to get to Kelios. The vines had covered her over as well, so I could do nothing but wait. As the vines retreated I gaped in horror; Kelios was nowhere to be found. All we could find was a trail of blood....leading into the sewers.

It seems that someone was extending us an invitation.